(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for controlling a compressor, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for controlling a compressor and expanding an operation range of the compressor to improve fuel efficiency of a vehicle.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Recently, exhaust regulations and fuel efficiency regulations have become more stringent to retard progress of global warming and to mitigation potential depletion of petroleum resources. To enhance fuel efficiency, improvement of auxiliary machinery such as an air conditioning system is required. The air conditioning system includes a compressor, an evaporator, and a condenser. The compressor is configured to compress a refrigerant that flows in from the evaporator, and then discharge the compressed refrigerant to the condenser. The compressor is further configured to receive power of an engine.
According the related art, the compressor is operated by a heater controller based on an external air temperature of a vehicle. Since a substantial amount of power of the engine is consumed when a position value of an accelerator pedal is greater than or equal to a predetermined value, an engine controller stops operation of the compressor. In other words, the engine controller has a priority related to a stopping operation of the compressor.
According to the related art, even when the external air temperature is high, the compressor may be stopped, and thus cooling performance of the air conditioning system may deteriorate. In addition, when the position value of the accelerator pedal is less than the predetermined value, the heater controller is configured to operate the compressor based only the external air temperature without considering the position value of the accelerator pedal, and thus power of the engine for driving the vehicle may become insufficient.
The above information disclosed in this section is merely for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.